“Self-Winding” Pacemaker

It’s no surprise that this piece comes from the land of Rolex watches, Switzerland. Researchers at the University of Bern have engineered a pacemaker that sits directly on the heart (i.e. no lead wires), and powers itself by external movement acting on an eccentric flywheel within the device, just like a self-winding watch. Today, while pacemaker batteries may last ten years or more, it does require surgery to make a change. That’s not the case with this model, and presumably this example might be applied to other implantables. MORE